Shelbourne 1-3 Dundalk

Late goals from Stephen O’Donnell and John Mountney gave Dundalk a deserved 3-1 victory at Tolka Park as Shelbourne finished with ten men once again.

Dundalk skipper O’Donnell struck on 87 minutes to loop a header over Niall Burdon in the Shelbourne goal from Darren Meenan’s deflected cross to put Dundalk ahead for the first time on the night..

Substitute Mountney then added a third three minutes into stoppage time when robbing Ian Ryan to slide the ball past Burdon.

Shelbourne, who had Paul Crowley sent off in last week’s defeat in Bray, had skipper Graham Gartland dismissed for a second booking following a foul on O’Donnell four minutes before Dundalk went ahead.

In truth, Dundalk might have won by more as the crossbar had deprived Richie Towell’s stunning long range drive in the 80th minute.

Shelbourne had snatched the lead against the run of play on 43 minutes.

Philly Hughes had just failed to make decent contact on a cross from Sean Brennan before Mark Leech whipped over another delivery from the right for Dean Kelly to score with a diving header.